INSTRUCTOR TIME: FACE TO FACE VERSUS ONLINE: With the increase in the prevalence of online college coursework, questions have arisen concerning the relative amount of time teaching online courses requires compared to teaching traditional face-to-face coursework. Web-based teaching and learning are changing the platform on which higher education is delivered to students (Lei & Gupta, 2009). According to their 2009 review student enrollment in online coursework has grown from 754,000 in 1995, to 1.6 million students enrolled in 1998, and over 3 million student enrolled in online coursework in the 2000-2001 academic year. By fall 2007 over 3.9 million students were enrolled in online learning. This revolution in education delivery has not gone unnoticed by institutions of higher education. However, it has sometimes been a challenge for institutions to convince faculty, who feel removed from their comfort zone, that online education will be beneficial in the long run. Although some studies have shown online courses to be more effective that traditional courses (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2010), they are are also more labor intensive for the instructors. Studies have shown that factors such as existing workload and lack of release time serve to inhibit voluntary faculty participation in developing and teaching online courses (Sloan, 2010). A study was conducted by Sloan at the Michigan-Dearborn campus (1999-2000) with a participant cohort of twenty-five graduate student TAs, The study included such factors such as: 1) time spent reading and responding to email; 2) reading, participating in and grading online discussions; and 3) grading assignments. Results showed that teaching each online course required between 3 and 7 hours per week, with the greatest number of emails and amount of time required during the first and last two-weeks of the course. Participation in grading discussions took the greatest amount of time. A ethnographic research study among professors at the University of South Australia resulted in a dual themed concern about online education (Boerema, Stanley & Westhorp, 2007). Firstly, the research team report that high student interest in a particular course was the central motive in the offering of that course by the university, and secondly, that faculty reported workload and time constraints as problematic when working with a large number of online students. It was believed that there was a significant workload implication for delivering online coursework that “is relevant, applied to student’s interests, requires students to collaborate and has learning activities that are linked to sequential assessments”. As shown in the schematic below, the needs of students drive the time and effort of faculty in offering a ‘powered up’ online course that will meet rigorous educational standards as well as student interest parameters. The study noted that online teaching instruction requires some 40% to 50% greater work on the part of the instructor in comparison with a conventional classroom delivery. Some of the faculty interviewed has tried to simply limit their online effort to 4 hours per week which was similar to their traditional effort in a face-to-face classroom, but they then felt intensive tension between providing a quality learning experience that met the needs of students and maintaining a “reasonable” educator workload that remains unresolved. However, the value of distance learning for students is so clear that the faculty interviewed were committed to continuing to work in developing strategies to manage the tensions. As reported by Worley and Tesdell (2009) results of past studies in comparing teaching time and effort in online and face-to-face teaching environments are inconsistent. The authors compared the time it took them to teach the same course online and in a traditional classroom. The results over a two-semester research study were that it took approximately 20% more time to teach online than in a traditional face-to-face classroom. The paired-samples t-test showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.009) between the faculty effort required to teach in the two types of venues. The authors speculate that the additional time per student required by online teaching is related to tool training, preparation time, and (most importantly) responding individually to students. Anecdotal information from one case study (Cavanaugh) reported that in his comparison between two identical courses he taught, one online and one in face-to-face classrooms, that the amount of time he spent teaching increased directly with the number of students enrolled. From his calculation each online student accounted for 6 hours and 46 minutes of his time, throughout the semester. The major difference he found between the two teaching formats was the time he spent online communicating with students. It was the belief of Cavanaugh that any significant reduction in student communication would have a negative impact on the quality of instruction. Evidence based best practices are clearly necessary in order to delineate useful strategies for minimizing instructor time without detracting from the students' learning. BEST PRACTICES FOR INSTITUTIONS
1. Train Faculty Lei and Gupta (2009) report that administrators must realize that faculty will need extensive training to learn how to develop online coursework in their fields, and to learn to use the software selected by the institution. Unfortunately, the current economic situation has already reduced faculty compensation, faculty travel, and professional development funds for faculty. The incentive and motivation for faculty to dedicate time and effort to learn the new skills and produce online coursework in a climate of little infrastructure support may be quite low. A first experience with web-based instruction has been reported to cause a cognitive overload for instructors, since instructors must become familiar with the technology and even develop their own information management system for a virtual classroom. For example, instructors need to have experience in online delivery before they can inform students exactly how to contact them, and what to expect in terms of turn around time for communications. These are things that it takes faculty used to teaching in face-to-face environments some time to learn. Instructors often report ‘information overload’ due to a large number of students all requesting immediate responses to their posts, papers, questions and emails. Online and performance-based assessments also require an additional investment of time for instructors who may already be overextendedSimmons College (2007) an orientation tutorial for both faculty and students, as well as a system that mentors and supports new online teachers. It has been recommended that there are “Quickstart” guides for the software that will be utilized in teaching the online coursework and that only those faculty who are identified through an assessment tool as well suited for online teaching be trained and employed in teaching online.
2. Emphasize the Benefits of Online Education
3. Conduct Further Research into Time Demands on Instructors Since current studies have relied upon self report from faculty and graduate teaching assistants additional studies are needed from a variety of instructors across a variety of courses and disciplines to identify the median and range of faculty time commitment required to teach online college coursework (Sloan, 2010). A study done electronically on the back end of the website that automatically tracks online time, posting time and other parameters is necessary to assure that the actual time spent is electronically recorded, rather than self report or the report of perception of time spent. 4. Seek Faculty Opinion and Foster Open Discussion A survey conducted of online instructors for this paper () revealed widely divergent attitudes towards what is normal and expecting with regards to online teaching. For instance, when asked how much time was reasonable to spend per week teaching an online course, responses ranged from 2 hours per week to as much as 12 hours per week. While there was general concensus regarding what methods were appropriate for students to use in contacting instructors (email and office phone), there was again a range in how quickly instructors should give feedback to students from very quickly -- every day, as soon as possible -- to only on days when instructors had office hours. Likewise, there was an even split on whether faculty teaching online should be paid extra for their efforts. Given the divergent expectations among the instructors themselves, there are likely to be equally divergent expectations among students and among administration.
BEST PRACTICES FOR INSTRUCTORS Worley & Tesdell suggest that some courses may lend themselves more appropriately to online venues and that strategies and best practices to cut down on student / faculty interaction time will help set parameters that will enable faculty to teach both online and face-to-face courses with the same expenditure of time and effort. A number of best practices have been put forward by experienced online instructors for reducing direct student / faculty interaction while adding quality to the classroom. 1. Use discussion boards Discussion boards can increase learner-learner interaction. The instructor can occasionally jump into the discussion, providing feedback not necessarily to a single individual, but to the entire conversation. McCurdy & Ives (2007) claim that well-designed discussion boards are able to elicit "experimentation, divergent thinking and exploration of multiple perspectives, complex understanding, and reflection more effectively that many face-to-face interaction." Thus, a well planned and maintained discussion board can minimize instructor time while improving the quality of the course. 2. Use rubrics Clear and detailed rubrics can enable students to engage in more self-evaluation, increasing the quality of their work. 3. Use guided peer-review While open ended peer review can be less than optimal, guided peer review -- using the same rubrics that will be used by the instructor -- can provide valuable feedback, reduce the need for feedback from the instructor on first drafts, and increase learner-learner interaction. 4. Recycle comments Instructors kept a collection or database of commonly used comments when giving feedback on assignments, responding to discussion board posts, or answering student emails. These can be posted as frequently asked questions, and they can be quickly copied and pasted when necessary. This requires an initial investment of time, but the database begins to pay dividends in subsequent semesters of teaching a course. 5. Respond to emails with announcements when possible When one student has a general question about an assignment, it is likely that another student will have the same question. Respond to these questions by posting an announcement to the class. 6. Use audio recording to provide feedback on assignments and drafts Properly done, audio feedback can increase the amount of useful feedback that an instructor is capable of giving while decreasing the time necessary to give it. Furthermore, unlike a face to face conference, it can allow the students to listen again and again if necessary. 7. Create group assignments Group work, while not always loved by some students, has long been recognized as a key component in creating a non-linear, non-teacher centered learning environment. What works in the face to face classroom can also work online. Online group work can save time for both instructors and students while creating a feeling of community among the students. Hanna, Glowack-Dudka and Conceicao-Runlee (2000) offer the following additional tips for managing online coursework; 1. Establish preferred class size Decide the size of the class before you design the course. Escalating class size will increase the logistical support you'll need and reduces the direct interaction you'll have with learners. 2. Be prepared and flexible Deicde whether your course focuses on process or content befoeryou develop the coure's structure, assignments and assessment strategies. Online courses that focus on process involve the development of specific steps or procedures to expedite learning. Online courses that focus on content are aimed at helping learners learn a specific subject matter. Both approaches can use discussion, research, idea or resource sharing, and group projects. Give your learners structure and guidelines when you're planning and organizing the materials for your online course. 3. Set attainable goals for our learners, and use benchmarks to acknowledge their growth 4. State your expectations and minimum participation requirements upfront. 5. Negotiate norms with the learners 6. Communicate to students what they can expect from you as an instructor Issues such as online office hours, how and when to communicate with you, what to expect in terms of feedback and the timing of that feedback are all important pieces of informaiton for your students to know up front before the course begins. In the future, it would be useful to conduct more empirical research into these techniques to determine if they indeed have the desired effect of reducing faculty time while not diminishing (or even increasing) the educational value of the course.
REFERENCES Boerema, C., Stanley, M., Westhorp, P. (2007). Educators’ Perspective of Online Course Design and Delivery. Medical Teacher. No. 20. Pp. 758-765 Cavenaugh, J. (x) Teaching Online- A Time Comparison Found online on November 9, 2010 at http://distance.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring81/cavanaugh81.htm Hanna, D., Glowacki-Dudka, M., Conceicao-Runlee, S. 2000. 147 Practial Tips for Teaching Online Groups. , Madison, WI., Atwood Publishing. Lei, S., Gupta, R. (2009) College Distance Education Courses: Evaluating Benefits and Costs From Institutional, Faculty and Student’s Perspectives. Education. Vol. 130. No.4., pp. 616-631. Means, B, Toyama, Y, Murphy, R, Bakia, M, & Jones, K. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development Policy and Program Studies Service. (2010). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: a meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Washington, DC: Simmons College (2004). Implementing an Online Program: Guiding Questions. Found online on 11/09/2010 at www. Sloan Consortium (2010) Teaching Courses Online: How Much Time Does It Take? Found on Tuesday 10/26/2010 at http:www.sloanconsortium.org/jaln/v7n3/teaching-courses-online-how-much-time-does-it-take Worley, W., & Tesdell, L. (2009). Instructor Time and Effort in Online and Face-to-Face Teaching: Lessons Learned. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. Vol. 52. No. 2. Pp. 138-151.
APPENDIX A: BEST PRACTICES PILOT SURVEY- ANALYSIS
Survey Question 1: “What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching?” Respondents reported that faculty should be active online and responding to students as follows: a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours (one response) b. 2 days a week, total of 4 hours (none) c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours (two responses) d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours (one response)
Two respondents suggested an alternate faculty schedule:
3 days a week, total of 12 hours
6 days a week, 2 hours each day
Survey Question 2: “Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly? Respondents all replied “yes” it is acceptable for students to email the professor directly.
Survey Question 3: “Is it acceptable for online students to call the professor on the office phone? Most respondents (5 of 6) reported that it was acceptable for the student to call the professor on the office phone.
The participant who responded ‘no’ to this question provided the following explanation: “If a student wishes to speak to me I ask for a good time to call them, and then I call them. I don’t want them spending the money to call me, #1, and if they have to call me it means that my course is not designed well or that I am not communicating with them enough (being visible in the class). I can’t remember the last time I had to talk to a student on the phone.”
Survey Question 4: “Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home? Most respondents (4) reported that it was acceptable. Two respondents reported that it was not.
Representative comments for Question 4 were as follows: “They may call me if I give permission first”.
“It is never acceptable. Students could then track your home address. Some students can become obsessed with you. Providing students with this data only makes the instructor a slave to the student, and places the instructor in a dangerous position”.
“In general I would say that students should not call the professor on their cell or at home, but I provide my cell to students and only get one or two calls a semester. If it were any different I would not provide home or cell number.’
“We all have our smart phones these days, and so if the student emails me I will know right away without a call’. Question 5: “What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post?
Three respondents reported that the faculty should reply to students within 24 hours. One respondent reported that the faculty should reply to students within 48 hours Three respondents opined that faculty should reply to students on regularly scheduled office days.
Written responses clarified the opinions of respondents. Representative responses are as follows:
“If faculty want to keep students enrolled in the course they must reply as soon as possible. Instructors who want to set their online office hours may improve their interactions by checking the virtual office forum each morning and each night to respond to student questions.”
“Faculty should be present in the course at least three times a week’.
“Faculty should answer questions as soon as they can, every day. However faculty may let students know the date on which papers will be graded. This does not need to be on the same day that students post the papers”.
Question 6: “Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching takes?
Respondents were fairly evenly divided on this issue. Three faculty said “yes, online faculty should receive extra pay”, while four faculty responded, “no.” Respondents clarified their opinions by writing in comments. Representative comments are shown below:
“Yes I think that they should receive extra pay for multiple reasons. 1) it takes a lot fo work to put your class together. You have the same burden of topic material, plus the burden of learning the tools, building an online classroom, figuring out how to help your student with the technology on top of everything else. (2) It takes a lot more time to interact with students. Instead of talking to everyone at once, you often have to respond to many individual communications. (3) There is a lot more external pressure on both the instructor and the students related to both the technology and the need to interact with IT people. For example, on the last Wednesday of summer session, IT decided to upgrade the Blog & Wiki functions while my students were building their final projects onto a Wiki. The upgrade removed my students' access to their work, and caused a panic attack and a huge amount of work for both my students and myself AFTER the semester was technically over. That was unbelievable, put me behind in building my Fall class, and should have netted me another month of pay. But it didn't, of course.
“No - online teachers should get release time for designing their course well for online delivery (that course should meet quality standards) and online teachers should have course sizes that keep their courses manageable. If design and class size are managed in this way, the online course will not take longer and (don't tell anyone) could take less time - all things considered. Comments about the time it takes to teach online compared to teaching in the face-to-face classroom: Once you create a well designed course, teaching online takes minimal time - and the time spent is enjoyable as you impact student lives. F2F classes are fraught with variables beyond our control - students get sick - it snows 10 inches and classes are cancelled - teachers get sick - one person's questions hold up the whole class...etc. Online teaching and learning doesn't pose those problems. I think when one gets into a rhythm of checking the course in the mornining and at night - using peers to support learning experiences, and minimizing performances to be graded, and increasing formative feedback (all best practices) then teaching online takes less time than f2f.
ORIGINAL DRAFT SURVEY Using your own experience as a guide, please respond to the following questions about the time and effort it takes to teach an online course. If you would like to suggest other possible survey questions, or stretch the limits of the response selection, that would help us. Thank you. 1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching?
1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours
2 days per week, total of 4 hours
5 days a week, total of 5 hours
5 days a week, total of 10 hours
2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly?
3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone?
4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home?
5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post?
Same day
24 hours
48 hours
On regularly scheduled office days
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching.
RAW DATA OriginalResponses . 1. b 2. Yes 3. Yes 4. No 5. d 6. Yes. More should be paid for course set up, and an additional fee for each student over 15. || Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 8:24 AM, CST. 1. Reasonable and do are two different things however since I do not have face to face with my students and online is my only connection I would have to go with at least c and maybe d depending on what is due that week. 2. Yes my students call all the time, face to face students call 3. Oops messed up the order but y students email me constantly that is my major form of communication with them. 4. Only if I have given them permission. 5. Ugh I hate this because as a student they would want 24 as a professor sometimes 48 is more reasonable. That said what I tell my students is 24 hours Monday through Friday and the weekend may not get responses till Monday. When I first started online I felt I had to respond within 24 hours to everything and I felt like I lived on the computer and my wise and wonderful mentor helped me to realize that I was entitled to a life. 6. From a purely individual perspective yes of course I would love to be paid more for online that face to face as I do believe it takes more time. However in this economy I realize that is not going to happen, and my personal belief is that it is not a battle to be addressed at this time. Not to say that down the road it will need to be.
|| Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 10:11 AM, CST. 1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching? a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours b. 2 days per week, total of 4 hours c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours I probably spend from 30 minutes to 1.5 hrs most days. Grading day I probably spend 5 hours. Today, for example, I got a note from a student about some confusion. Because her confusion had to do with other student behavior, that prompted me to send out a general email to the entire class and also put up an announcement. 20 or 30 minutes.
2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly? (yes or no) Yes, and phone if they need to. Sometimes it's easier to untangle something sticky by phone. I have only had one student abuse the phone in five years of online teaching.
3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone? (yes or no)
See above. 4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home? (yes or no) I am a Ph.D student, so I don't have an official office. They must call me on my cell.
5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post? a. Same day b. 24 hours c. 48 hours Technically, I think it's fine to take 48 hours. Realistically, however, I've discovered that my students - mostly grad students - have limited times available to work around family, jobs, etc. If I don't reply rather promptly, I've screwed up their study window. I generally check student email twice a day seven days a week - once in the morning and once again in the evening. But occasionally when I'm busy or traveling I'm much more lax. I tell them - if you have an emergency, pick up the phone. d. On regularly scheduled office days, clearly posted online
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching? (yes, no, why or why not) I think they should, for multiple reasons. (1) It takes a LOT of work to put your class together. YOu have the same burden of topic material, plus the burden of learning the tools, building an online classroom, figuring out how to help your student with the technology on top of everything else. (2) It takes a lot more time to interact with students. Instead of talking to everyone at once, you often have to respond to many individual communications. (3) There is a lot more external pressure on both the instructor and the students related to both the technology and the need to interact with IT people. For example, on the last Wednesday of summer session, IT decided to upgrade the Blog & Wiki functions while my students were building their final projects onto a Wiki. The upgrade removed my students' access to their work, and caused a panic attack and a huge amount of work for both my students and myself AFTER the semester was technically over. That was unbelievable, put me behind in building my Fall class, and should have netted me another month of pay. But it didn't, of course.
Even though I tell my students - if you've got an IT problem, call the Helpful Help People, not me, I find they STILL contact me first, and that I often end up mediating a technology crisis anyway because the IT people are not at their desks when it occurs. There is one IT Manager at UMKC who seems to live at her computer and will respond to an email night or day. I try very hard not to abuse that knowledge. || Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 12:58 PM, CST. 1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching? a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours b. 2 days per week, total of 4 hours c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours I'd have to say none of the above - at least 6 days a week - max of 2 hours per day for a well designed course with managable class size
2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly? (yes or no) For personal matters - yes 3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone? (yes or no) NO - If a student wishes to speak to me, I ask for a good time to call them, and then I call them. I don't want them spending the money to call me #1 - and if they have to call me, it means my course is not designed well or I am not communicating with them enough (being visible in the class). I can't remember the last time I had to talk to a student on the phone. Perhaps 8 years ago. 4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home? (yes or no) NEVER - students can track your address. Some students can becrome obsessed with you. We encountered this situation when I managed an online progam at a different university. Providing students with this data not only makes the instructor a slave to the student, but also places the instructor in a dangerous position. 5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post? as soon as possible - if the instructor wishes for students to achieve well and keep attrition low however, this is a choice. Instructors who set different hours can always be aware that they may improve by checking the virtual office (ask me) forum each morning and each night, and responding to student questions. a. Same day b. 24 hoursX c. 48 hours d. On regularly scheduled office days, clearly posted online
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching? (yes, no, why or why not) No - online teachers should get release time for designing their course well for online delivery (that course should meet quality standards) and online teachers should have course sizes that keep their courses manageable. If design and class size are managed in this way, the online course will not take longer and (don't tell anyone) could take less time - all things considered. Comments about the time it takes to teach online compared to teaching in the face-to-face classroom: Once you create a well designed course, teaching online takes minimal time - and the time spent is enjoyable as you impact student lives. F2F classes are fraught with variables beyond our control - students get sick - it snows 10 inches and classes are cancelled - teachers get sick - one person's questions hold up the whole class...etc. Online teaching and learning doesn't pose those problems. I think when one gets into a rhythm of checking the course in the mornining and at night - using peers to support learning experiences, and minimizing performances to be graded, and increasing formative feedback (all best practices) then teaching online takes less time than f2f.
|| Loading...
Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 7:47 PM, CST. 1. 3 days per week... 10-12 hours per week (sorry to leak outside the multiple choice boundaries... if I had to pick a-d, it would be d). 2. Yes, fine to email directly. 3. Always fine. 4. In general, I'd say no, but I provide my cell phone to my students and get perhaps 2-3 calls per semester. If it were any different, I would not provide home or cell number. 5. d. (supposing that you have office hours at least thrice weekly) 6. No, I don't think that they should. Perhaps once for the initial design of the course, but not subsequently. There are perks to teaching online that balance the additional time-per-student requirements.
Subjectively, I have almost felt like I was getting off easy getting to teach online instead of in a traditional classroom. Even with the additional time per student, for me, the ability to front-load a significant amount of class design easily outweighs the benefits of classroom teaching. It never would have occurred to me to ask for additional pay. However, there is an additional time investment. Also, given many instructors' reticence to dive into the problems and opportunities of the technology, I could see that being a reasonable request.
|| Loading...
Made on 11/13/2010 at 4:49 PM, CST. SURVEY QUESTIONS
1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching? a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours b. 2 days per week, total of 4 hours c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours This is hard for me to answer because it would depend on how many credit hours the course is, how many students are enrolled, etc. I do know that I spent more time when I first started teaching online than what I do now. I learned over the years what wasn’t clear to students, when to provide examples, etc. 2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly? (yes or no) Absolutely! I tell them the easiest way to catch me is email and while I will be checking Bb I could miss something they posted. 3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone? (yes or no) Absolutely. Sometimes things just can’t be handled in an efficient and timely manner via Bb, email, etc. Those are the times I will arrange to call the student or have them call me. 4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home? (yes or no) I have never encouraged this and only on rare occasions has a student needed to phone me at home. Because we all have our smart phones these days – if the student does email me I am looking at it and can tell whether or not I need to call them. 5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post? Depends -If students are posting assignments they generally know that I set time aside each week to review them and provide feedback. If they are posting questions I try to get back to them as soon as possible because just like me – our students have limited time to devote to their school work. It is so amazing to see in our case mothers who work full-time, come home feed their kids, do all the things that have to happen to get them ready for the next day, put them to bed, and THEN sit down to do their homework etc. Truly inspiring!!! a. Same day b. 24 hours c. 48 hours d. On regularly scheduled office days, clearly posted online
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching? (yes, no, why or why not) Hmmmmmm, I think that we all are educators whether we teach via distance/online technology or face-to-face. I have been doing this for over a decade and it has never occurred to me that I deserve to be paid more than my colleagues who teach face-to-face. I sure would not like to see a tiered system. Comments about the time it takes to teach online compared to teaching in the face-to-face classroom: I think if you are a faculty member who puts a lot into their teaching, you are going to do it regardless of the delivery modality. I will say that when I first started teaching online it took more time up front to develop the courses, but just like anything, once I had some practice and developed some comfort with the tools it has become easier each year.
Managing Your Time as an Instructor Online
INSTRUCTOR TIME: FACE TO FACE VERSUS ONLINE:
With the increase in the prevalence of online college coursework, questions have arisen concerning the relative amount of time teaching online courses requires compared to teaching traditional face-to-face coursework.
Web-based teaching and learning are changing the platform on which higher education is delivered to students (Lei & Gupta, 2009). According to their 2009 review student enrollment in online coursework has grown from 754,000 in 1995, to 1.6 million students enrolled in 1998, and over 3 million student enrolled in online coursework in the 2000-2001 academic year. By fall 2007 over 3.9 million students were enrolled in online learning. This revolution in education delivery has not gone unnoticed by institutions of higher education. However, it has sometimes been a challenge for institutions to convince faculty, who feel removed from their comfort zone, that online education will be beneficial in the long run.
Although some studies have shown online courses to be more effective that traditional courses (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2010), they are are also more labor intensive for the instructors.
Studies have shown that factors such as existing workload and lack of release time serve to inhibit voluntary faculty participation in developing and teaching online courses (Sloan, 2010).
A study was conducted by Sloan at the Michigan-Dearborn campus (1999-2000) with a participant cohort of twenty-five graduate student TAs, The study included such factors such as: 1) time spent reading and responding to email; 2) reading, participating in and grading online discussions; and 3) grading assignments. Results showed that teaching each online course required between 3 and 7 hours per week, with the greatest number of emails and amount of time required during the first and last two-weeks of the course. Participation in grading discussions took the greatest amount of time.
A ethnographic research study among professors at the University of South Australia resulted in a dual themed concern about online education (Boerema, Stanley & Westhorp, 2007). Firstly, the research team report that high student interest in a particular course was the central motive in the offering of that course by the university, and secondly, that faculty reported workload and time constraints as problematic when working with a large number of online students. It was believed that there was a significant workload implication for delivering online coursework that “is relevant, applied to student’s interests, requires students to collaborate and has learning activities that are linked to sequential assessments”. As shown in the schematic below, the needs of students drive the time and effort of faculty in offering a ‘powered up’ online course that will meet rigorous educational standards as well as student interest parameters.
The study noted that online teaching instruction requires some 40% to 50% greater work on the part of the instructor in comparison with a conventional classroom delivery. Some of the faculty interviewed has tried to simply limit their online effort to 4 hours per week which was similar to their traditional effort in a face-to-face classroom, but they then felt intensive tension between providing a quality learning experience that met the needs of students and maintaining a “reasonable” educator workload that remains unresolved. However, the value of distance learning for students is so clear that the faculty interviewed were committed to continuing to work in developing strategies to manage the tensions.
As reported by Worley and Tesdell (2009) results of past studies in comparing teaching time and effort in online and face-to-face teaching environments are inconsistent. The authors compared the time it took them to teach the same course online and in a traditional classroom. The results over a two-semester research study were that it took approximately 20% more time to teach online than in a traditional face-to-face classroom. The paired-samples t-test showed a statistically significant difference (p=0.009) between the faculty effort required to teach in the two types of venues. The authors speculate that the additional time per student required by online teaching is related to tool training, preparation time, and (most importantly) responding individually to students.
Anecdotal information from one case study (Cavanaugh) reported that in his comparison between two identical courses he taught, one online and one in face-to-face classrooms, that the amount of time he spent teaching increased directly with the number of students enrolled. From his calculation each online student accounted for 6 hours and 46 minutes of his time, throughout the semester. The major difference he found between the two teaching formats was the time he spent online communicating with students. It was the belief of Cavanaugh that any significant reduction in student communication would have a negative impact on the quality of instruction.
Evidence based best practices are clearly necessary in order to delineate useful strategies for minimizing instructor time without detracting from the students' learning.
BEST PRACTICES FOR INSTITUTIONS
1. Train Faculty
Lei and Gupta (2009) report that administrators must realize that faculty will need extensive training to learn how to develop online coursework in their fields, and to learn to use the software selected by the institution. Unfortunately, the current economic situation has already reduced faculty compensation, faculty travel, and professional development funds for faculty. The incentive and motivation for faculty to dedicate time and effort to learn the new skills and produce online coursework in a climate of little infrastructure support may be quite low. A first experience with web-based instruction has been reported to cause a cognitive overload for instructors, since instructors must become familiar with the technology and even develop their own information management system for a virtual classroom. For example, instructors need to have experience in online delivery before they can inform students exactly how to contact them, and what to expect in terms of turn around time for communications. These are things that it takes faculty used to teaching in face-to-face environments some time to learn.
Instructors often report ‘information overload’ due to a large number of students all requesting immediate responses to their posts, papers, questions and emails. Online and performance-based assessments also require an additional investment of time for instructors who may already be overextendedSimmons College (2007) an orientation tutorial for both faculty and students, as well as a system that mentors and supports new online teachers. It has been recommended that there are “Quickstart” guides for the software that will be utilized in teaching the online coursework and that only those faculty who are identified through an assessment tool as well suited for online teaching be trained and employed in teaching online.
2. Emphasize the Benefits of Online Education
3. Conduct Further Research into Time Demands on Instructors
Since current studies have relied upon self report from faculty and graduate teaching assistants additional studies are needed from a variety of instructors across a variety of courses and disciplines to identify the median and range of faculty time commitment required to teach online college coursework (Sloan, 2010).
A study done electronically on the back end of the website that automatically tracks online time, posting time and other parameters is necessary to assure that the actual time spent is electronically recorded, rather than self report or the report of perception of time spent.
4. Seek Faculty Opinion and Foster Open Discussion
A survey conducted of online instructors for this paper () revealed widely divergent attitudes towards what is normal and expecting with regards to online teaching. For instance, when asked how much time was reasonable to spend per week teaching an online course, responses ranged from 2 hours per week to as much as 12 hours per week. While there was general concensus regarding what methods were appropriate for students to use in contacting instructors (email and office phone), there was again a range in how quickly instructors should give feedback to students from very quickly -- every day, as soon as possible -- to only on days when instructors had office hours. Likewise, there was an even split on whether faculty teaching online should be paid extra for their efforts. Given the divergent expectations among the instructors themselves, there are likely to be equally divergent expectations among students and among administration.
BEST PRACTICES FOR INSTRUCTORS
Worley & Tesdell suggest that some courses may lend themselves more appropriately to online venues and that strategies and best practices to cut down on student / faculty interaction time will help set parameters that will enable faculty to teach both online and face-to-face courses with the same expenditure of time and effort. A number of best practices have been put forward by experienced online instructors for reducing direct student / faculty interaction while adding quality to the classroom.
1. Use discussion boards
Discussion boards can increase learner-learner interaction. The instructor can occasionally jump into the discussion, providing feedback not necessarily to a single individual, but to the entire conversation. McCurdy & Ives (2007) claim that well-designed discussion boards are able to elicit "experimentation, divergent thinking and exploration of multiple perspectives, complex understanding, and reflection more effectively that many face-to-face interaction." Thus, a well planned and maintained discussion board can minimize instructor time while improving the quality of the course.
2. Use rubrics
Clear and detailed rubrics can enable students to engage in more self-evaluation, increasing the quality of their work.
3. Use guided peer-review
While open ended peer review can be less than optimal, guided peer review -- using the same rubrics that will be used by the instructor -- can provide valuable feedback, reduce the need for feedback from the instructor on first drafts, and increase learner-learner interaction.
4. Recycle comments
Instructors kept a collection or database of commonly used comments when giving feedback on assignments, responding to discussion board posts, or answering student emails. These can be posted as frequently asked questions, and they can be quickly copied and pasted when necessary. This requires an initial investment of time, but the database begins to pay dividends in subsequent semesters of teaching a course.
5. Respond to emails with announcements when possible
When one student has a general question about an assignment, it is likely that another student will have the same question. Respond to these questions by posting an announcement to the class.
6. Use audio recording to provide feedback on assignments and drafts
Properly done, audio feedback can increase the amount of useful feedback that an instructor is capable of giving while decreasing the time necessary to give it. Furthermore, unlike a face to face conference, it can allow the students to listen again and again if necessary.
7. Create group assignments
Group work, while not always loved by some students, has long been recognized as a key component in creating a non-linear, non-teacher centered learning environment. What works in the face to face classroom can also work online. Online group work can save time for both instructors and students while creating a feeling of community among the students.
Hanna, Glowack-Dudka and Conceicao-Runlee (2000) offer the following additional tips for managing online coursework;
1. Establish preferred class size
Decide the size of the class before you design the course. Escalating class size will increase the logistical support you'll need and reduces the direct interaction you'll have with learners.
2. Be prepared and flexible
Deicde whether your course focuses on process or content befoeryou develop the coure's structure, assignments and assessment strategies. Online courses that focus on process involve the development of specific steps or procedures to expedite learning. Online courses that focus on content are aimed at helping learners learn a specific subject matter. Both approaches can use discussion, research, idea or resource sharing, and group projects. Give your learners structure and guidelines when you're planning and organizing the materials for your online course.
3. Set attainable goals for our learners, and use benchmarks to acknowledge their growth
4. State your expectations and minimum participation requirements upfront.
5. Negotiate norms with the learners
6. Communicate to students what they can expect from you as an instructor
Issues such as online office hours, how and when to communicate with you, what to expect in terms of feedback and the timing of that feedback are all important pieces of informaiton for your students to know up front before the course begins.
In the future, it would be useful to conduct more empirical research into these techniques to determine if they indeed have the desired effect of reducing faculty time while not diminishing (or even increasing) the educational value of the course.
REFERENCES
Boerema, C., Stanley, M., Westhorp, P. (2007). Educators’ Perspective of Online Course Design and Delivery. Medical Teacher. No. 20. Pp. 758-765
Cavenaugh, J. (x) Teaching Online- A Time Comparison
Found online on November 9, 2010 at http://distance.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring81/cavanaugh81.htm
Hanna, D., Glowacki-Dudka, M., Conceicao-Runlee, S. 2000. 147 Practial Tips for Teaching Online Groups. , Madison, WI., Atwood Publishing.
Lei, S., Gupta, R. (2009) College Distance Education Courses: Evaluating Benefits and Costs From Institutional, Faculty and Student’s Perspectives. Education. Vol. 130. No.4., pp. 616-631.
Means, B, Toyama, Y, Murphy, R, Bakia, M, & Jones, K. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development Policy and Program Studies Service. (2010). Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: a meta-analysis and review of online learning studies. Washington, DC:
Simmons College (2004). Implementing an Online Program: Guiding Questions. Found online on 11/09/2010 at www.
Sloan Consortium (2010) Teaching Courses Online: How Much Time Does It Take? Found on Tuesday 10/26/2010 at http:www.sloanconsortium.org/jaln/v7n3/teaching-courses-online-how-much-time-does-it-take
Worley, W., & Tesdell, L. (2009). Instructor Time and Effort in Online and Face-to-Face Teaching: Lessons Learned. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. Vol. 52. No. 2. Pp. 138-151.
APPENDIX A: BEST PRACTICES PILOT SURVEY- ANALYSIS
Survey Question 1:
“What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching?”
Respondents reported that faculty should be active online and responding to students as follows:
a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours (one response)
b. 2 days a week, total of 4 hours (none)
c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours (two responses)
d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours (one response)
Two respondents suggested an alternate faculty schedule:
Survey Question 2:
“Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly?
Respondents all replied “yes” it is acceptable for students to email the professor directly.
Survey Question 3:
“Is it acceptable for online students to call the professor on the office phone?
Most respondents (5 of 6) reported that it was acceptable for the student to call the professor on the office phone.
The participant who responded ‘no’ to this question provided the following explanation:
“If a student wishes to speak to me I ask for a good time to call them, and then I call them. I don’t want them spending the money to call me, #1, and if they have to call me it means that my course is not designed well or that I am not communicating with them enough (being visible in the class). I can’t remember the last time I had to talk to a student on the phone.”
Survey Question 4:
“Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home?
Most respondents (4) reported that it was acceptable.
Two respondents reported that it was not.
Representative comments for Question 4 were as follows:
“They may call me if I give permission first”.
“It is never acceptable. Students could then track your home address. Some students can become obsessed with you. Providing students with this data only makes the instructor a slave to the student, and places the instructor in a dangerous position”.
“In general I would say that students should not call the professor on their cell or at home, but I provide my cell to students and only get one or two calls a semester. If it were any different I would not provide home or cell number.’
“We all have our smart phones these days, and so if the student emails me I will know right away without a call’.
Question 5:
“What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post?
Three respondents reported that the faculty should reply to students within 24 hours.
One respondent reported that the faculty should reply to students within 48 hours
Three respondents opined that faculty should reply to students on regularly scheduled office days.
Written responses clarified the opinions of respondents. Representative responses are as follows:
“If faculty want to keep students enrolled in the course they must reply as soon as possible. Instructors who want to set their online office hours may improve their interactions by checking the virtual office forum each morning and each night to respond to student questions.”
“Faculty should be present in the course at least three times a week’.
“Faculty should answer questions as soon as they can, every day. However faculty may let students know the date on which papers will be graded. This does not need to be on the same day that students post the papers”.
Question 6:
“Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching takes?
Respondents were fairly evenly divided on this issue. Three faculty said “yes, online faculty should receive extra pay”, while four faculty responded, “no.”
Respondents clarified their opinions by writing in comments. Representative comments are shown below:
“Yes I think that they should receive extra pay for multiple reasons.
1) it takes a lot fo work to put your class together. You have the same burden of topic material, plus the burden of learning the tools, building an online classroom, figuring out how to help your student with the technology on top of everything else.
(2) It takes a lot more time to interact with students. Instead of talking to everyone at once, you often have to respond to many individual communications.
(3) There is a lot more external pressure on both the instructor and the students related to both the technology and the need to interact with IT people. For example, on the last Wednesday of summer session, IT decided to upgrade the Blog & Wiki functions while my students were building their final projects onto a Wiki. The upgrade removed my students' access to their work, and caused a panic attack and a huge amount of work for both my students and myself AFTER the semester was technically over. That was unbelievable, put me behind in building my Fall class, and should have netted me another month of pay. But it didn't, of course.
“ No - online teachers should get release time for designing their course well for online delivery (that course should meet quality standards) and online teachers should have course sizes that keep their courses manageable. If design and class size are managed in this way, the online course will not take longer and (don't tell anyone) could take less time - all things considered.
Comments about the time it takes to teach online compared to teaching in the face-to-face classroom:
Once you create a well designed course, teaching online takes minimal time - and the time spent is enjoyable as you impact student lives. F2F classes are fraught with variables beyond our control - students get sick - it snows 10 inches and classes are cancelled - teachers get sick - one person's questions hold up the whole class...etc. Online teaching and learning doesn't pose those problems. I think when one gets into a rhythm of checking the course in the mornining and at night - using peers to support learning experiences, and minimizing performances to be graded, and increasing formative feedback (all best practices) then teaching online takes less time than f2f.
ORIGINAL DRAFT SURVEY
Using your own experience as a guide, please respond to the following questions about the time and effort it takes to teach an online course. If you would like to suggest other possible survey questions, or stretch the limits of the response selection, that would help us. Thank you.
1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching?
- 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours
- 2 days per week, total of 4 hours
- 5 days a week, total of 5 hours
- 5 days a week, total of 10 hours
2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly?3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone?
4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home?
5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post?
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching.
RAW DATA
Original Responses
.
1. b
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. No
5. d
6. Yes. More should be paid for course set up, and an additional fee for each student over 15.
||
Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 8:24 AM, CST.
1. Reasonable and do are two different things however since I do not have face to face with my students and online is my only connection I would have to go with at least c and maybe d depending on what is due that week.
2. Yes my students call all the time, face to face students call
3. Oops messed up the order but y students email me constantly that is my major form of communication with them.
4. Only if I have given them permission.
5. Ugh I hate this because as a student they would want 24 as a professor sometimes 48 is more reasonable. That said what I tell my students is 24 hours Monday through Friday and the weekend may not get responses till Monday. When I first started online I felt I had to respond within 24 hours to everything and I felt like I lived on the computer and my wise and wonderful mentor helped me to realize that I was entitled to a life.
6. From a purely individual perspective yes of course I would love to be paid more for online that face to face as I do believe it takes more time. However in this economy I realize that is not going to happen, and my personal belief is that it is not a battle to be addressed at this time. Not to say that down the road it will need to be.
||
Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 10:11 AM, CST.
1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching?
a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours
b. 2 days per week, total of 4 hours
c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours
d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours
I probably spend from 30 minutes to 1.5 hrs most days. Grading day I probably spend 5 hours. Today, for example, I got a note from a student about some confusion. Because her confusion had to do with other student behavior, that prompted me to send out a general email to the entire class and also put up an announcement. 20 or 30 minutes.
2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly? (yes or no)
Yes, and phone if they need to. Sometimes it's easier to untangle something sticky by phone. I have only had one student abuse the phone in five years of online teaching.
3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone? (yes or no)
See above.
4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home? (yes or no)
I am a Ph.D student, so I don't have an official office. They must call me on my cell.
5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post?
a. Same day
b. 24 hours
c. 48 hours
Technically, I think it's fine to take 48 hours. Realistically, however, I've discovered that my students - mostly grad students - have limited times available to work around family, jobs, etc. If I don't reply rather promptly, I've screwed up their study window. I generally check student email twice a day seven days a week - once in the morning and once again in the evening. But occasionally when I'm busy or traveling I'm much more lax. I tell them - if you have an emergency, pick up the phone.
d. On regularly scheduled office days, clearly posted online
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching? (yes, no, why or why not)
I think they should, for multiple reasons. (1) It takes a LOT of work to put your class together. YOu have the same burden of topic material, plus the burden of learning the tools, building an online classroom, figuring out how to help your student with the technology on top of everything else. (2) It takes a lot more time to interact with students. Instead of talking to everyone at once, you often have to respond to many individual communications. (3) There is a lot more external pressure on both the instructor and the students related to both the technology and the need to interact with IT people. For example, on the last Wednesday of summer session, IT decided to upgrade the Blog & Wiki functions while my students were building their final projects onto a Wiki. The upgrade removed my students' access to their work, and caused a panic attack and a huge amount of work for both my students and myself AFTER the semester was technically over. That was unbelievable, put me behind in building my Fall class, and should have netted me another month of pay. But it didn't, of course.
Even though I tell my students - if you've got an IT problem, call the Helpful Help People, not me, I find they STILL contact me first, and that I often end up mediating a technology crisis anyway because the IT people are not at their desks when it occurs. There is one IT Manager at UMKC who seems to live at her computer and will respond to an email night or day. I try very hard not to abuse that knowledge.
||
Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 12:58 PM, CST.
1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching?
a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours
b. 2 days per week, total of 4 hours
c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours
d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours
I'd have to say none of the above - at least 6 days a week - max of 2 hours per day for a well designed course with managable class size
2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly? (yes or no)
For personal matters - yes
3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone? (yes or no)
NO - If a student wishes to speak to me, I ask for a good time to call them, and then I call them. I don't want them spending the money to call me #1 - and if they have to call me, it means my course is not designed well or I am not communicating with them enough (being visible in the class). I can't remember the last time I had to talk to a student on the phone. Perhaps 8 years ago.
4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home? (yes or no)
NEVER - students can track your address. Some students can becrome obsessed with you. We encountered this situation when I managed an online progam at a different university. Providing students with this data not only makes the instructor a slave to the student, but also places the instructor in a dangerous position.
5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post? as soon as possible - if the instructor wishes for students to achieve well and keep attrition low however, this is a choice. Instructors who set different hours can always be aware that they may improve by checking the virtual office (ask me) forum each morning and each night, and responding to student questions.
a. Same day
b. 24 hoursX
c. 48 hours
d. On regularly scheduled office days, clearly posted online
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching? (yes, no, why or why not)
No - online teachers should get release time for designing their course well for online delivery (that course should meet quality standards) and online teachers should have course sizes that keep their courses manageable. If design and class size are managed in this way, the online course will not take longer and (don't tell anyone) could take less time - all things considered.
Comments about the time it takes to teach online compared to teaching in the face-to-face classroom:
Once you create a well designed course, teaching online takes minimal time - and the time spent is enjoyable as you impact student lives. F2F classes are fraught with variables beyond our control - students get sick - it snows 10 inches and classes are cancelled - teachers get sick - one person's questions hold up the whole class...etc. Online teaching and learning doesn't pose those problems. I think when one gets into a rhythm of checking the course in the mornining and at night - using peers to support learning experiences, and minimizing performances to be graded, and increasing formative feedback (all best practices) then teaching online takes less time than f2f.
||
Loading...
Loading...
Made on 11/12/2010 at 7:47 PM, CST.
1. 3 days per week... 10-12 hours per week (sorry to leak outside the multiple choice boundaries... if I had to pick a-d, it would be d).
2. Yes, fine to email directly.
3. Always fine.
4. In general, I'd say no, but I provide my cell phone to my students and get perhaps 2-3 calls per semester. If it were any different, I would not provide home or cell number.
5. d. (supposing that you have office hours at least thrice weekly)
6. No, I don't think that they should. Perhaps once for the initial design of the course, but not subsequently. There are perks to teaching online that balance the additional time-per-student requirements.
Subjectively, I have almost felt like I was getting off easy getting to teach online instead of in a traditional classroom. Even with the additional time per student, for me, the ability to front-load a significant amount of class design easily outweighs the benefits of classroom teaching. It never would have occurred to me to ask for additional pay. However, there is an additional time investment. Also, given many instructors' reticence to dive into the problems and opportunities of the technology, I could see that being a reasonable request.
||
Loading...
Made on 11/13/2010 at 4:49 PM, CST.
SURVEY QUESTIONS
1. What amount of time do you believe is reasonable for online teaching?
a. 1-2 days a week, total of 2 hours
b. 2 days per week, total of 4 hours
c. 5 days a week, total of 5 hours
d. 5 days a week, total of 10 hours
This is hard for me to answer because it would depend on how many credit hours the course is, how many students are enrolled, etc. I do know that I spent more time when I first started teaching online than what I do now. I learned over the years what wasn’t clear to students, when to provide examples, etc.
2. Is it acceptable for online students to email the professor directly? (yes or no)
Absolutely! I tell them the easiest way to catch me is email and while I will be checking Bb I could miss something they posted.
3. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the office phone? (yes or no)
Absolutely. Sometimes things just can’t be handled in an efficient and timely manner via Bb, email, etc. Those are the times I will arrange to call the student or have them call me.
4. Is it acceptable for the online student to call the professor on the cell phone or at home? (yes or no)
I have never encouraged this and only on rare occasions has a student needed to phone me at home. Because we all have our smart phones these days – if the student does email me I am looking at it and can tell whether or not I need to call them.
5. What is the acceptable amount of time an online professor should have to get back to the students after their post? Depends - If students are posting assignments they generally know that I set time aside each week to review them and provide feedback. If they are posting questions I try to get back to them as soon as possible because just like me – our students have limited time to devote to their school work. It is so amazing to see in our case mothers who work full-time, come home feed their kids, do all the things that have to happen to get them ready for the next day, put them to bed, and THEN sit down to do their homework etc. Truly inspiring!!!
a. Same day
b. 24 hours
c. 48 hours
d. On regularly scheduled office days, clearly posted online
6. Should online teachers be paid more for teaching if it is shown that it takes more time than face-to-face teaching? (yes, no, why or why not)
Hmmmmmm, I think that we all are educators whether we teach via distance/online technology or face-to-face. I have been doing this for over a decade and it has never occurred to me that I deserve to be paid more than my colleagues who teach face-to-face. I sure would not like to see a tiered system.
Comments about the time it takes to teach online compared to teaching in the face-to-face classroom:
I think if you are a faculty member who puts a lot into their teaching, you are going to do it regardless of the delivery modality. I will say that when I first started teaching online it took more time up front to develop the courses, but just like anything, once I had some practice and developed some comfort with the tools it has become easier each year.